THE OOLOGIST 



189 



feeding tliem while we were eating. 

 She sliowed no worry about them. 

 And did not pay any attention to us. 

 This is tlie only bird that has raised 

 right in camp. But birds were raised 

 in bird boxes and tin cans all around 

 camp. 



R. Graham. 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



A Trip to Auacapa Island, Ventura 

 County, Calif. 



On the morning of May 26th, 1917, 

 S. B. Peyton, M. Stirling and myself 

 left Ventura aboard Capt. B. Web- 

 ster's launch, bound for Auacapa 

 Island. This island is about twenty 

 miles off the coast of Ventura. It is 

 about five miles long and four hun- 

 yards across in the widest place. For 

 the most part it is very rocky and 

 rough. 



After a hasty lunch (our time was 

 limited) in Webster's cabin, we set 

 out for a cave at the west end of the 

 island in search of Guillemots. We 

 entered using a flash light to aid us, 

 as this cave run some two hundred 

 feet back. About half way we found 

 four nests of Pigeon Guillemot. Three 

 nests contained two young each and 

 the other held one egg. Further 

 search resulted in two sets of eggs 

 each and the other held one egg. 

 Further search resulted in two sets 

 of eggs each, badly incubated. The 

 nests were merely small pebbles and 

 broke shells on the floor of the cave. 



After leaving there we rode to the 

 south of the island to an outlying 

 rock known as Cat Rock. After a 

 short search we were rewarded with 

 two fine sets of Zantus Murrelet of 

 two eggs each, and a set of two Black 

 Oystercatcher. We also found a third 

 set of Murrelet but left this as in- 

 cubation was too far advanced. The 

 Murrelets nest in burrows and back 

 in among rocks. The birds in all in- 



stances were taken off the eggs and 

 then let go. The nest of Black Oyster- 

 catcher was merely a slight depres- 

 sion in the ground lined with small 

 stones. 



The next morning we visited a 

 colony of Western Gull and Brandt 

 Cormorant. The Gull eggs were all 

 badly incubated and most of the Cor- 

 morant were hatched. 



The young California Brown Peli- 

 cans had all left the nests and were 

 taking lessons in fishing at this time. 



W. C. Badger. 

 Santa Paula, Cal. 



Bird Slaughter by Foreigners 



As against the gloomy but true 

 picture of bird slaughter, there is in 

 spots at least, a bright side. I live 

 quite near what we call South Mount- 

 ain Reservation, really the south end 

 of Orange mountain, and a. park of 

 hundreds of acres. I really never saw 

 birds more plentiful and I have been 

 a bird man since 1867 when I collect- 

 ed my first sets. I never saw so many 

 Robins anywhere as here; sometimes 

 two nests in a tree, something I never 

 knew Robins to do before. In only 

 about ten minutes looking out of my 

 window I saw about twenty Robins, 

 twenty-five or more Starlings, two 

 Blue Jays, one Crow, twelve or more 

 Chimney Swifts, four or five Barn 

 Swallows, twelve or more Eave Swal- 

 lows, one Kingfisher, three Chipping 

 Sparrows, two English Sparrows, two 

 Baltimore Orioles, one Brown Thrash- 

 er, two Crown Blackbirds, one Indigo 

 bird, one Red-headed Woodpecker, 

 one Bluebird, and a number of others 

 too far away to identify. The result 

 is all trees in perfect foliage. No 

 "worm nests," our fruit unsprayed is 

 as good as sprayed fruit twenty miles 

 away. 



Foreigners are very far the worst 

 element in bird slaughter. The small 



